I agree.

If nothing else, it was refreshing to see England attack Italy and play with a bit of flair. Last night was the first time in a long time that I've seen England have a good go against one of the big teams and play without fear.

I like what Roy is trying to do. I always felt he was the right man for the job because of his international experience and experience in general, but he's taken over a team in transition, unfortunately. I hope he stays in the job long enough to still be working with all these up-and-coming players when they realise their full potential.

We deserved a draw out of the game last night and if we can play as well against Uruguay and Costa Rica, we should make it out of the group.

I thought England played very well and the final score did not reflect the game.

It was a defeat, but I don't feel that deflated because they did play well and there were many positives; Sturridge, Welbeck and Sterling.

Rooney did not work in the position he played in (although he provided the pass that lead to the goal). This are things that can be ironed out.

For me, I want England to play with passion...They did that - We can still get out of the group. Spain and Uruguay both lost their opening games and no one is writing them off yet!

Thursday's game will be a nail-biter!

England played better than they normally do, however they still lost against one of the top teams. Although I dont think this Italy team is as good as previous Italian teams. Pirlo and Buffon being the outstanding players in the team.

I think England will beat Uruguay and Costa Rica. Uruguay have more or less blown their chances by losing to Costa Rica. England will be too much for them. England will more than likely only need a draw to progress, as they will beat Costa Rica and Italy should win both their remaining games. Uruguay will have to go for the win, which should make it an interesting game.

The miss which Rooney got major stick for missing, do you think Balotelli would have scored if he had that chance?

Uruguay are beatable but I'd be worried about Costa Rica. They're a good young side and Campbell is on fire at the moment.

I get the feeling there will be some big shocks this WC. I would never have expected Holland to beat Spain 5-1!!!
Could that be a good omen for England? I mean, no one is giving them a hope

50/50 to be honest.

I really hope Rooney scores against Uruguay, just to shut people up, because it's getting boring now listening to the hate.

I suspect Roy will play him centrally on Thursday so that will suit him better.

Well, I am Spanish and I agree with media then. I've watched 3 games: Brazil-Croatia, Spain-Nederlands and Italy-England, and I have to admit that it has been the best game so far.
Good pace, plenty of chances for both teams, nice plays, and better than I expected.
And I wanted England to win, but couldn't be this time. Best luck for the next 2 games

I was upset because almost everybody here wanted Spain to lose, but I understand that you want us to go home. However, I still think we will go through of our group but, unfortunately, we will fall with Brazil (deservedly or not)

Don't be too upset, people always want the team that "always wins" to lose. Nothing personal I'm sure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPX_dp9M2Ow

Who knows.

Yes, that's exactly what I thought

Does anyone know when we last beat Italy in tournament football? I think they're a bigger bogie team than Germany.

I don't think we have, apart from the 'Tournoi de France' tournament in 1997.

Never, but we've hardly ever played them in tournaments - in the world cup Saturday night and the 2-1 defeat in the third place play off at Italia '90, in the Euros a 1-0 defeat at Euro '80 and the match two years ago.

I assume your not counting our victories over them in the Tournoi de France or USA Bicentennial Cup as 'tournaments'

Thanks (and knickerlesscage too), that's what I meant. No great success then.

We certainly have this curious trait of wishing ill will against those who do well. I think Spain will bounce back and will go much further then we will, so you will certainly have the last laugh.

I am not so sure about Brazil, I thought there game was won by some really biased referee decisions so I think you are fairly balanced

To be honest it would be an absolute disaster for both the Brazilian government and FIFA, if Spain knocked them out in the first knockout round. I hope it doesn't happen for the sake of the tournament, otherwise there will be more reporting on the inevitable riots than the football.

I thought England played okay and certainly far better than their turgid efforts in recent major tournaments. Some kind of virus seemed to settle in under Sven. Good that the insistence on playing 4-4-2 seems to have been shelved too.

They were rioting on the opening night even though they won. I think they would riot if they got through or not and it is not something they will forget about simply because they win a football match. Just my opinion of course!

Yes, I agree. However, do you remember what happened to us in Korea? We were knocked out by the referee and if that must have be done again.......believe me, it will.
But for that we must win our 2 games first AND wait for others, because if everything goes as planned, we would finish with 6 points; Nederlands will have 6 points after beating Australia and a good goal difference, so they can afford losing with Costa Rica and maybe we would be done..... 3 teams with 6 points and we would have the worst goal difference.
We have to wait and see what happens VS Costa Rica...

People like to see the underdog do well. Spain have been a superb team over the past few years and have deservedly won 3 tournaments in a row, but it just gets a little boring when one team is so dominant. It's certainly not anything personal against Spain.

I thought the Holland game was one of those freakish games that happen every so often. We beat Germany 5-1 a few years back, but it didn't ultimately mean anything. Germany are a better team than England and always produce in tournaments. They are allowed to have the occasional off day and so are Spain.

Spain are still one of the best teams in this tournament and have a good chance of winning. I have no doubt that you will bounce back from that defeat and go on to do well. To be honest, I wouldn't want to be the next team to play Spain after that Holland game. Spain are going to be wanting to set the record straight and show the world that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

I agree with all this. I can see Holland going pretty far but it is highly unlikely they will see a victory like this for a long time. I think a lot of it comes down to Spain being the world champions, if it was any other team no one would write them off just yet, but because we expect so much from the one slip up and we think they are toast.